Dusk to Dusk
by Crescent Quetzalcoatl
Summary: The pain of a broken promise lingered in Hanamichi's heart. Will someone be able to save him from his sorrow? Or will Hana refuse everyone's love? For Seraph-Kirin... Chap 2 up and please read authors notes. Thank you very much!
1. At a Hand's Distance

Disclaimer: Slam Dunk is owned by Takehiko Inoue-sama.

Dedication: This fic is dedicated to a very good writer, **Seraph-Kirin**

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Dusk to Dusk

by

Crescent Quetzalcoatl

Chapter 1: At a Hand's Distance

Stray light of dawn wandered into the room from the nearby window; fine beams of it were streaking the dim atmosphere and descending into the tanned and sinewy form of a certain redhead, warming the body awake. Stirring from his sleep, the redhead slowly lifted himself up and the silken sheets covering him slid down to his waist revealing a powerful tanned chest and firm abs.

He placed a hand on his forehead and tried to gather his thoughts. Last night had been quite a blur and only remembered bits of it. Sighing, he moved to get up and unknowingly made the bed squeak from his weight. Then he felt a pair of lithe arms sliding from behind, embracing his bare torso possessively.

"Hmmm… Hana-chan…" the owner of the arms purred. "…It's too early. Get back to sleep…"

"I can't, Fujima-san." Sakuragi felt those arms and tried to pry himself away. "I got exams today. Besides, I only promised you this night."

Fujima pouted. "I told you not to call me Fujima-san!" The look on the pretty face of the former Shoyo captain made Sakuragi Hanamichi chuckle.

"Nani? Why are you laughing, Hana-chan?" Fujima asked.

"Gomen nasai," Sakuragi shook his head. "You just look so adorably perplexed. But I really have to go."

As reluctant as he can be, Fujima unlinked his arms around the redhead but placed his hands on Sakuragi's arms ceasing him from moving away as he placed open-mouthed kisses on his companion's neck.

"Say… that you'll… stay…" Fujima whispered between the rain of kisses he's giving the boy, eliciting delicious moans from the redhead.

"I… can't…" Sakuragi answered breathlessly.

Fujima continued his ministrations, placing tiny kisses on the underside of his jaw, to his throat, then licking and nibbling the flesh especially the junction between the redhead's neck and shoulder blades.

"Fujima… Kenji… no… stop… s-stop…" Sakuragi groaned. 

Large hands gripped the slightly pale ones from his arms, gently prying, pushing them away and finally released himself successfully from the vice-like grip and embrace.

"Stop now, Fujima-san." The redhead's voice was controlled.

"Is there someone waiting, Hana-chan?" Fujima looked into those determined brown eyes, searching for an evidence of the same want he had for the fiery lad moments ago. Yet he found none.

Sakuragi raised from the bed, wearing nothing except for black boxer shorts. Fujima frowned at this.

"No one," the redhead briefly glanced at the naked man on the bed, then gathered his things to the bathroom. "See you at practice."

===

The lock made a soft click as he turned the inserted key in its place. Silently, he opened the door of the dormitory and walked in cat-like silence. 

The room was still dark, obviously his roommates haven't awaken. Gently closing the door, Sakuragi let out a relieved sigh and went to his bed that was near the entrance and placed his duffel bag on it. The bright lights came on suddenly.

"_Where have you been_?"

The baritone voice stuck a chord within him. Sakuragi slowly faced the man reprimanding him.

"I've been jogging," he said, face remaining passive.

"Surely… you don't bring your bag while jogging, do you, Sakuragi?" the other pressed, pointing to the duffel bag on his bed.

"What is it to you?" Sakuragi narrowed his eyes.

"I know about you and Fujima," he answered, walking towards the redhead as if daring him to deny it.

"Stay out of my business!" Sakuragi met the man's piercing blue eyes with his own angry coppers. They were inches apart, both felt each other's breath, each other's heart, that you could mistake the scene as romantic except the fact that they were trying to kill each other off with their death glares.

"Shut up, you two!"

The two men snapped their head's towards the third voice that rang throughout the room. Its owner was sitting on his bed, chin up defiantly and his own blue eyes piercing like ice.

"I can't sleep with all that ranting! Sendoh! Talk to him later. Do'aho! You'd better have an explanation for this," he said, walking up to the former Ryonan Ace and pulled him away from the angry redhead.

"Dammit, Kitsune! Not you too!" Sakuragi hissed. Ever since he had become these two aces' roommate, they have been nothing but pain and the redhead felt that they were intruding his space and trying to pester his life. 

"Me?" the said kitsune pointed his chest mockingly. "One wrong move and Ayako-san will have our heads. You'd better behave yourself."

Sakuragi gritted his teeth. "I never wanted any of this."

"Well, there's nothing more you can do," came Rukawa's heated reply.

===

The afternoon practice was harsh on them. Since only select basketball players from all over the prefecture was invited to the sports clinic sponsored by Japan Youth Team for the Kanagawa University, it was rather becoming that everyone participated in the activities, particularly the upcoming friendly match among the players whom will be divided into three teams.

Weariness was taking a toll in all of them, their coach decided to dismiss them early but not before a certain brown-haired lad got hold of another unique-haired individual.

"Sakuragi-kun!"

The redhead looked at his way, cocking his head in a question. "Hai?"

Fujima smiled at him, and entwined one of his hands with the redhead's. "You'll come by the house tonight?" he asked, missed the slight flinch in Sakuragi's eyes.

"I don't think so, Fujima-san," Sakuragi answered and casually removed his hand from the team captain. "I have to be at the dormitory tonight, lest I got another sermon coming from the Lady Gori herself."

__

WHACK!

"And who do you think you're calling 'Lady Gori', huh, Sakuragi Hanamichi?!"

The redhead winced at the slight pain on his head and turned to the mad manageress herself. Ayako got the same position since high school and doing a very good job at it. Especially, her favorite paper fan.

"So… Sakuragi-kun, I assume you did well on your exams today?" Ayako raised an eyebrow on the shocked redhead but managed a small smile on her lips.

"O-Of course, Ayako-san!" Sakuragi scratched his head. "You know you can count on me."

Ayako nodded satisfactorily. Then she noticed Fujima by the redhead's side. "Fujima-sempai, staying for late practice?"

"Iie. I was planning on taking Sakuragi-kun out," Fujima said. The redhead's eyes widened at his captain's blatant words and stepped in the conversation to try and object. But Ayako did it for him.

"I don't think that's possible, Fujima-sempai," Ayako expressed clearly, enfolding her hands in the paper fan.

"And why not?" he asked, slight distaste for the lovely manageress was seeping in his cool voice.

"Because Sakuragi-kun needed time for himself. Alone." she answered. Her hostility towards Fujima was not because she didn't like the pretty-faced player before her, only she knew something about him that may concern her redhead friend. She needed Sakuragi away from him as long as possible.

"I think it's going to be Hana-kun's decision now."

Ayako and Fujima waited for the redhead's reply as if his answer was the solution to an old age problem.

"I—" Sakuragi both looked at them with uncertainty. The reason, he doesn't know. "—I think—I'm going to shower first." Then fled into the confines of the locker room.

===

He closed his eyes in utmost weary. Confrontation was not his piece of pie. Well, not anymore. It has been a lot different from high school and the explanation waned through time. 

Cold tiles send chills down his spine, seared through his thoughts, weaved through his mind. _I just want to be alone._ Sighing, Sakuragi opened his eyes and stuck a hand to twist the metal knob of the shower somewhere in front of him.

Icy water pricking on his back like fine spray of needles wasn't enough to shake him to stop contemplating about a certain brown-haired, blue-eyed teammate and his manageress friend.

It's enough to have two meddlesome blue-eyed brunettes in you life; another meddling pair is too much.

-tsuzuku-

For Seraph-Kirin:

Gomen nasai, Seraph-Kirin… I know this is but long overdue. I couldn't find the time to continue my fics because of my exams and I haven't got the courage to post this up. Well, I'm not sure if you'll like this but I'm willing to make amends. It'll be a SenHana as I promised though with lots of twists in the original plan. Hope to hear from you soon. Ja!

For the Readers:

Everyone, here is my second SenHana fic but I'm still loyal to my fave pairing RuHana, I'm making an exception this time even as I promised my self to write RuHana first but this is a promise for a friend. I hope you'll like it as you have with my other fics. Always, thank you so much for reading them. I'm really grateful! Questions are always welcome, constructive criticisms are helpful, but I do not tolerate flames… it just breaks my heart. ^__^V


	2. Request for Indulgence

Disclaimer: Slam Dunk is owned by Takehiko Inoue-sama.

Dedication: For Seraph-Kirin

Warning: People here are OOC.

Notes: Please read my mumblings after. It's really important. Please.

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Dusk to Dusk

By

Crescent Quetzalcoatl

Chapter 2: Request for indulgence

After his shower, Sakuragi fixed his bag to prepare for home. Or the dormitory rather. It was Ayako's idea for him to share the dormitory room with the two blue-eyed aces during the sports clinic. He had been living in his house since the start of his classes in Kanagawa University but an incident altered his life, and the manageress decided to step in.

He kneaded his neck with a hand, the warm shower was not enough to eliminate the fatigue of the practice.

Then he felt a warm hand placed over his on his nape. 

"Need some help?"

Sakuragi twisted away in surprise and found a pair of twinkling blue eyes directed at him.

"Why so jumpy, Hanamichi-kun?"

"Sendoh," the redhead narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Sendoh shook his head. "How many times do I have to tell you to call me 'Akira'? Anyway, are you going back to the dorm? Let's go then."

"I'm not coming with you. I have to go somewhere," he refused.

"Why are you always like that? What did I do to make you so distant?" Sendoh asked, grabbing the redhead's arm.

"Let me go! You're hurting me!" the redhead pulled away angrily.

"And you think I'm not?"

They were glaring at each other again, almost a reminiscent of the old times of the do'aho and the kitsune, but this was different. To the redhead at least, Sendoh's cerulean eyes spoke of hidden anguish and unwanted sorrow.

"Just leave me alone," Sakuragi uttered, almost tired of the argument. "I want to be alone, Sendoh. How couldn't you give me that?"

"Because it's not healthy," Sendoh said releasing Sakuragi's arm. "Because I don't want you going down like the last time."

The redhead snorted. "What, you're my counselor now? You and Rukawa should mind your own business and stop prying at my affairs."

Sendoh watched him took his duffel bag, headed towards the door. Then Sakuragi paused and spoke in a cold tone.

"And stop pretending to be my friend because you're not."

===

Grass that smelled the sweet scent of dew in the morning but of clouded thoughts and rain in that particular afternoon was somehow ignored by a particular redhead as he kneeled towards a great slab of stone, smoothened by marble and engraved with a familiar name. He traced the hollow markings with a lone finger as he slowly rested his forehead on the cool stone, his breath silently heaving in quiet pain and his thoughts hollered out a name in his heart.

__

I promised to stay with you forever…

Sakuragi closed his eyes, keeping the salty moisture of sorrow within. He removed his hand on the headstone and lifted his head up, watching the shadows cast their claws upon the place; the cemetery wasn't the most comforting place in the world especially for someone with a broken heart. The man, then a cheerful youth in his high school days gave out a small smile coated in both anguish and guilt.

__

I didn't think back then…

He stood up and walked away from the headstone, a tear escaped from his eye. There was nothing he can do now but cry; it was always for the friend he had, the promise unfulfilled and the only person who understood his heart. 

__

Youhei…

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*Flashback*

Sakuragi clucked his tongue impatiently as the orange ball bounced off the ring and plummeted on the shiny wooden floors. He had been practicing yet again – the pressure of the upcoming game against Ryonan was taking a toll on him and on the rest of his teammates. With the Ryonan Ace or not, they still have to win. 

Quickly, the redhead picked the ball and stood a good stance, powerful hands tossed the ball into the ring… and sailed neatly into the basket.

"Yosha!" the redhead exclaimed happily.

Then he heard an appreciative clapping of hands behind him, whirling around, Sakuragi found himself looking into a pair of friendly deep-blue eyes.

"Not bad, Hanamichi," the person smiled and folded his arms over his chest.

"Thanks, Youhei!" the redhead grinned, happily knowing that someone truly appreciated his skills in basketball. Picking the ball again, Sakuragi turned to face his best friend in question. "So, what brings the student council president to the humble abode of a mere basketball player?"

The other snorted but nonetheless blushed at the compliment. Ever since the brunette jokingly ran for the position and surprisingly won, the Gundan did nothing but tease Youhei for becoming serious about it and got a lot of head-scratching and blushes at the jests. "Betsuni… I was just checking how my best friend's progressing." Then, Youhei paced around the gym, trying to find out if anything changed since his last visit. "So, the game will be next week?"

"Hai," Sakuragi threw another three-pointer at the ring, the ball went in much to the redhead's delight. "And with this Tensai's talent, I will bring the team to victory!" thumping a fist on his chest as if he's King Kong or something. Youhei merely smiled at him.

"Hanamichi…" he started.

"Uh?"

"Your game will be next week right?"

"Yeah…" the redhead curiously waited.

Youhei looked more than thoughtful and his lips opened for words but he closed them again dismissing any statement he wanted to say. Shaking his head, the brunette gave out a smile.

"Nandemonai…" he said. "See you at the games. Good luck, Hanamichi."

Sakuragi stood completely puzzled at Youhei's weird behavior. Yet he could only watch him walk away from the basketball gym of Shohoku High.

****

*End of Flashback*

-tsuzuku-

Crescent mumbles:

Okay… for everyone who were wondering what's happening to the fic (and me), our dear boys are in college now and I think everyone's gone to be OOC. 

But there has been a little problem on my part and I think this fic needs a lot of polishing so I think I'll just stop this here and wait until my summer classes are over before I'll continue this one.

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Seraph-Kirin, thank you for your generous patience for this fic. I know this had been long prolonged but I'm hoping to gather my wits before I totally destroy everything I had planned. Yes, I'm planning to lie low for a while before continuing to write more. So maybe I'll be writing again after my summer classes which will be… um… a month from now. Thank you for everything…

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Everyone, I'm sure you've been disappointed as I am to myself but I can't help it, there's too much pressure these days. No, I'm not blaming you, the readers, instead I want to thank you all for being kind for such wonderful reviews. Of course to mention a few, **Celeste** and **Cymone** for the constructive criticisms that have been really helpful on my part. I'll be doing a lot of revising on this one as I'm not really happy with my work. Thank you so much guys and I hope to meet you again!

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Chris – they are in college and well, something happened to Hana that's why he's different. Thank you so much!

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Devil – Thank you very much!

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Taka and Keichirou – I'm glad you did! ^_^ Thank you, but sadly I can't continue anymore. I hope you read my notes.

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Renei – renei-san! Thank you for reviewing! I got your other review for 'Whipped Cream' and I'm glad you liked it. I'm really flattered. Uh… FujimaxHanamichi is not really original but just quite rare. You'll find some of these in Cymone's works. Thank you so much for having time to read my fics!

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Blue-eyed fox – hey! Anou… this is supposed to be a SenHana but due to some unfortunate circumstances, I won't be able to continue. *sigh* lagi na lang bitin… oh, I haven't forgot about the lemmie fic I owe you. Give me time and my first *ahem* lemon fic will be dedicated to you. Pray mo magkalakas-loob ako. Cheers!

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Cymone – ah… *scratches head* I'm going to make adjustments here and there so… *sheepish grin* I really don't understand myself as I type. I forgot to announce that they are OOC and well, after seeing Sendoh on the last few episodes of SD, my opinion about him change a notch. I can see that he could be as serious as gori. Maybe not as serious but uh… you get the picture. I admit I did make Rukawa talkative and Hana really weird but I should've explanations on that. Uh… and I can't continue my fic. *teary-eyed* Than you so much and you've been a great help! *hugs Cymone*

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Ayu – anou… there should be something that made Hana mad at the both of them and he'd been running to Fujima for some sort of comfort. Thank you for reviewing but sadly I would stop for a while. Thanks!

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Seraph-Kirin – no no it's okay really! I'm not mad. I thought you would be since it's really late. I should be trying really hard by now continuing this one. It's yours and I promised. Please forgive me too? Okees, if I resume writing I think I'll just make you beta-read it first ne? I'll try make Sendoh a bit more hentai if that's what you like, no problems actually. Thank you for everything!!! *hugs Seraph-Kirin*

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Celeste – Thank you so much for reviewing! Only you and Miss Cymone have given me a really long constructive criticism and I really appreciate it. Uh, the mystery would have to wait until I sort everything out; Rukawa should really keep his mouth closed. Hehe… I told myself once it might scare the readers and I was trying to experiment on his attitude. I think it didn't do well. As for Sendoh, I've watch him go serious on some moments in the anime and I thought I could use it, just like what I told Cymone. *scratches head* I really should sort out my priorities ne? Thank you so much!!!

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Annachan - *hugs Annachan* I checked my stats while logged in the ffnet and I found out that you've put me in your favorite's list! Thank you so much!!! I'm really grateful! Uh… about this story I couldn't continue, I hope you've read my notes. I'm sorry for that. Thank you and I hope you'll wait for my other fics one I resume writing. Thank you!!!


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